My latest, original essay is up on Catholic Stand. I've blogged here before that I often spend a lot of time worshipping with Byzantine Catholics, and I've noticed something during that time. At the same moment those in the Byzantine Rite were exhorted to maintain their beautiful and legitimate liturgical traditions, those in the Latin Rite began to discard their venerable liturgical traditions for an, oftentimes, hokey and bland minimalism, which made grandeur and feelings of awe in the Sacrifice of the Mass something to be purged and/or avoided. How can Roman Catholics reclaim this beauty and reverence that Byzantine Catholics have maintained for centuries? Here's a snippet of my thoughts, which you can finish reading at the link below:
While I myself am a Latin Rite Catholic, my maternal grandmother’s side of the family belongs to the Byzantine Rite, specifically the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). I’ve always felt that I’ve grown up with the best of both worlds. But now, with a Byzantine Rite parish so close to my home, I find myself drawn to this form of worship more and more. This is a rite in the Catholic Church which has not lost its traditions, as we have painfully seen in many Latin Rite parishes throughout the world.
It can be rightly argued that we as Latin Catholics have an identity crisis; the Byzantines do not. On the contrary, many Latinizations that have been acquired in the last several generations are disappearing in many Byzantine parishes. Yet, despite all this, I wish to stick with the Latin Rite. I want to help, in whatever small way I can, to regain our Latin traditions as the Byzantines have.
Read the rest HERE.
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